Street Harassment Follow Up

[sierra_le_oli]

Last Friday, I wrote about my record day of street harassment in London. The subsequent discussion seems to warrant a follow up post to clarify a couple of things. I'll start by answering a request for examples of what it is the men shout

Comments

[furrfu]

Interesting, and somewhat shocking. Thanks for the explanation.

These men should have their goolies cut off.

[sierra_le_oli]

Thank you for being prepared to listen.

[furrfu]

I'm a bit shocked at that, I didn't realise it was actually that bad although sadly it doesn't actually *surprise* me as such.

And while I may share my XY chromosome characteristic with them, that doesn't mean I share their *cough* "values"...

[gmh]

Not just their goolies, either.

(Of course, if and when I see this happening, another stereotypical middle-class liberal dilemma emerges with regard to intervention...

1. I don't want any women to be exposed to this sort of discourtesy (unless she wants to be). Therefore, I should Have Words.

2. In intervening myself, am I reinforcing the patriarchial model of delicate women who need protecting by men? - I like to think not, and on the occasions where I have intervened, I've done my best to make myself as non-threatening as possible, but it does concern me.

[silly_swordsman]

Now you've shocked me again. That's probably a good thing, despite me feeling very naive now.

Tomorrow, I shall wake up and think "gee, how shall I hamper my sex oppress women today".

[sierra_le_oli]

It shocked me too. One time I talked about it and was surprised by the number of women who had similar stories to tell. Intellectually, I knew it was common, but what was really shocking was how upset the women were. As someone who is more likely to respond with anger than with tears, I had been blind to that.
Equally shocking was how many men said they had no idea. So that's why I write about it.

Tomorrow, I shall wake up and think "gee, how shall I hamper my sex oppress women today".

:-)

[rmc28]

I am quite shocked too. I think either I don't trigger this sort of thing, or I live in places where it doesn't happen much, or I am just oblivious.

I also don't have many "being shouted at for cycling" stories, but I do agree that they are different issues.

[ailbhe]

It's very hard to be oblivious to some of it - if you haven't noticed it, then either you don't trigger it or it simply is not done to you.

People start making amusing remarks emphasising female sexuality when kids are about two, in my experience - total strangers asking the toddler if she has a boyfriend, hoping they'll be around when she turns 16, etc. It's supposed to be a compliment. It's sick.

[knell]

I've had suggestive comments made at me while running by women a few times. It was... odd.

[shriker_tam]

Personally, I have very little expeience with this. It may be because of where I live - people don't interact much on the streets in Sweden at all - nicely or offensively. My bf tells me[1] people occasionally check out my...assets...and I've noticed it once or twice myself. Once, when I was a teen, I was whistled at, buy a couple of guys in a military vehicle [2]. The only time that's really been close was once in Canada when I crossed the street in front of a truck, half running to get out of the way quicker, and the guy said something like "nice skip" or "nice hop" or something to that effect. Only after a moment's puzzled thinking did I realise that perhaps he was referring to some sort of jiggle action

[sierra_le_oli]

The amount of street harassment varies from country to country, it seems. It wasn't really a problem in The Netherlands for me. Argentina on the other hand...

So do you think that Sweden has lower levels of street interaction than the UK? I've never been to Sweden, so can't compare.

[shriker_tam]

Not sure... Not on the streets maybe - but there's more old fashioned, and personal, manners in the UK; cashiers calling you "love" or "dear", stuff like that. Also I think the UK is more traditional when it comes to gender roles - you have blokier blokes and girlier girls in some ways (not all, by any means). The UK also has more class issues - you have a more workingclass workingclass (if that makes any sense). I think this things may make a difference

[silly_swordsman]

Thank you!

This helped me get a handle on my thoughts. As soon as I've sorted them out, I think I'll have to write an egomining-style post to see if it makes sense.

[arwen_lune]

I think I don't attract this much and/or don't notice it much - plus I'm almost always listening to music so I wouldn't hear most of it even if it did happen.

Can't really remember specific moments while living in London either..

In Spain though *sigh* and always the old guys. I don't mean middle aged - I mean OLD. Like, 70+. I believe they even have a specific name, something like viejos viernes (?)
I don't react well to letching and certainly not when it's coming from a drunk, shrunken and smelly old guy who is missing half his teeth and JUST WON'T GO AWAY.

[sierra_le_oli]

My sympathies. It's kinda funny that the smoking ban means more of these drunks are outside on the street...

Whereabouts in London were you again?

[arwen_lune]

Kennington/Elephant&Castle

[sierra_le_oli]

I should've remembered that, a friend of mine lives in that area now. She has mentioned getting hassled, but I'm not sure how frequent it is.